Today’s Top Stories
1. Israel’s gearing up for a massive state funeral after the death of its last remaining founding father, Shimon Peres. The 93-year-old Peres passed away in Tel Aviv’s Tel HaShomer Hospital after suffering a massive stroke two weeks ago.
Peres will lie in state in the Knesset on Thursday until the Friday morning funeral on Mt. Herzl.
He served in nearly every significant position of Israeli politics, including president, multiple stints as prime minister, headed numerous cabinet ministries, and was the Labor Party’s long-time chairman. He also served as an MK from 1959-2007. Peres is best known for being the architect of the Israel’s defense industry, nuclear program, and the 1993 Oslo accords — for which he shared a Nobel Peace Prize with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat.
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2. World leaders and notables are making plans to attend the funeral. US President Barack Obama, Prince Charles, and Bill Clinton will be coming along with more international presidents and prime ministers than I can list here.
Long list of world leaders to attend Peres funeral. Key question is which Arab leader(s) will attend, sending message of peace to Israelis.
— Herb Keinon (@HerbKeinon) September 28, 2016
3. The Foreign Press Association denounced “racial profiling” at the Prime Minister’s Office after another incident of overzealous security guards strip searching a reporter. The FPA’s statement didn’t identify the reporter by name, only referring to a Government Press Office-accredited Associated Press TV producer. According to the Times of Israel, the woman was asked to remove her bra during a full-body search ahead of yesterday’s cabinet meeting.
Unless there’s a specific and credible warning, there’s no reason to subject accredited journalists to humiliating strip searches. Excessive security measures make Israel’s press relations even more fraught. Here’s why.
4. Sparks flew as HR’s Daniel Pomerantz and Palestinian journalist Ali Waked discussed Benjamin Netanyahu’s UN speech and on the i24 News show, Faceoff. Watch the video.
FaceOff – 09/27/2016 by i24news-en
5. New York Times’ Peres Obituary Rewrites History: Even Yasser Arafat’s widow confirmed the Second Intifada was planned all along.
6. Reuters Throws Vital Context Overboard: Hamas isn’t smuggling weapons by sea. Move along now.
7. Vice News Covers-Up For the Violent “Gandhi of Palestine”: Issa Amro is actually one violent guy.
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Shimon Peres, 1923-2016
• Mahmoud Abbas sent condolences to the Peres family and PA spokesman called Peres a “man of peace” whose death is “a great loss to humanity and the region.” Hamas and Hezbollah, on the other hand, said they’re happy with his demise. AP rounded up international reactions.
• Take your pick of obituaries in the New York Times, Times of Israel, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Haaretz, and The Guardian.
In the event you come across an obituary written by a journalist who died before Peres, I explained the phenomenon when a previous prime minister passed away. Check out Yitzhak Shamir and the Ghoul Pool.
• Tweet of the day from Robert Satloff:
To lose 2 giants – Elie #Wiesel & Shimon #Peres – in such quick succession is particularly bitter end to 5776. Hoping for sweeter new year.
— Robert Satloff (@robsatloff) September 28, 2016
• More tributes, reminiscences and retrospectives from Yossi Beilin, Clyde Haberman, David Horovitz, Lynsey Addario, Anshel Pfeffer, Dennis Ross, and Aaron David Miller.
• Last but not least, thumbs up to the New York Times for a nice collection of Peres’s most memorable quotes.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Ramallah just can’t take a hint:
Palestinians left wondering as Saudi paper takes Netanyahu’s side
• Jerusalem Post: First Druze to fill role of chief IDF West Bank prosecutor
• The Palestinian Authority’s control of the West Bank decreases incrementally every time this happens. Drip drip drip . . .
Nablus: Four wounded in armed clashes between Palestinian Authority policemen and gunmen.
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) September 28, 2016
• Shimon Peres isn’t the only former Israeli leader in the news:
– Supreme Court sentences former PM Ehud Olmert to 8 more months in jail
– Israeli-Egypt crossing renamed after peacemaker Menachem Begin
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Smadar Perry: Come to the Knesset, Abbas
– Ohad Hemo: PA malaise fans flames of lone-wolf attacks
– Pinhas Inbari: The fraying Palestinian political entity in the West Bank
Featured Image: Flash90; Peres CC BY-NC-ND European Parliament;
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